Space Interferometry Mission

The Space Interferometry Mission, also known as SIM Planet Quest, was a planned space telescope. One of the main goals was the search for Earth-sized planets outside our solar system, orbiting other stars ( exoplanets ). The project was set in 2010

Description

It was developed in collaboration with the contractor Northrop Grumman, by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The project is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL ) of NASA in Pasadena ( California). The contracts for SIM Planet Quest in 1998, for a total of 200 million U.S. dollars, granted. The work on the SIM project required that the scientists and engineers achieve eight special technology milestones. These milestones were reached in November 2006.

Originally it was planned that SIM Planet Quest 2005 aboard a Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle ( EELV ) launch. Due to repeated budget cuts the launch date has been postponed five times. NASA had provided a tentative start date for the year 2015. Already in February 2007, many of the engineers were displaced from the SIM program in other areas and projects. In December 2007, Congress has however NASA instructed to advance the mission of the planning for the development phase. In 2010, the project was shut down.

The spacecraft should use optical interferometry to achieve different scientific objectives. In the technique of interferometric light is collected by multiple telescope mirrors (in this case two levels at a distance of six meters ) as if they were a large mirror. On the way can be achieved without requiring a correspondingly large and expensive mirror a good angular resolution. In addition to searching for extrasolar planets SIM should help astronomers to make a map of the Milky Way. Other important tasks included the collection of data that will help to determine the stellar masses of different types of stars. This should help to determine the spatial distribution of dark matter in the universe.